The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-12-29
orest. more than pa,d for the few grains

orest, more than paid for the few grains
hey have picked up for their sustenance.
When you abuse any creature cf God
7ou strike its creator, and you insult the
Christ who, though he might have been
into life by princes, and taken
lis first infantile slumber amid Tyrian
,lush and canopied couches, and ripping
waters from royal aqueducts dripping
nto basins of ivory and pearl, chose to
be born on the level with cows horn.
Or camel's hoof, or dogs nostril, that
he might be the alleviation of brutal suf
fering as well as the redeemer of man.
Standing then, as ] imagine now / do,
in that Bethlehem night, with an infant;
Christ IN the one side and the speeehless
creatures of God ON the other, / cry:
Look out how you strike the rowel into
that horses side. Take off that cgrbed
bit from that bleeding mouth. Remove
that saddle from that raw back. Shoot
not for fun that bird that is too small for
food. Forget not to put water into the.
cage of that canary. Throw out some
crumbs to those birds caught too far
north in the winters inclemency. Arrest
that man who is making that one horse
draw a load heavy enough for three.
Rush in upon that scene where boys are
torturing cat or transfixing butterfly
and grasshopper. Drive not off that
old robin, for her nest is q mothers
cradle and under her wing there may be
three or four prima donnas of the sky in
training. And in your families and in
your schools teach the coming genera
ton more mercy than the present gen.
Grafton has ever shown in this marvellous
Bible picture of the Nativity, while you
point out to them the angel, show them
also the camel, and while they hear the
celestial chant let them also hear the
cows moan. No more did Christ show
interest in the botanical world when he
said, Consider the ilies," than he
showed sympathy for the pathological
when he said, '.Behold the fowls of the
air, = and the quadrupedal world when
he allowed himself to be called in one
place lion and in another place lamb.
Meanwhile, may the Christ of the Bethle-
hem cattle pen have mercy on the suffer
ing stock yards that are preparing dis
eased and fevered meat for our American
households.
Behold also in this Bible scene how on
that Christmas night God honored child
hood. Christ might have made his first
visit to our world in cloud, as he will
descend on his next visit in a cloud In
what chariot of illuminated vapor he
might have rolled down the sky, escorted
by mounted cavalry with lightning of
drawn sword. Elijah had a carriage of
fire to take him up, why not Jesus car
riage of fire to fetch him down? Or.
over the arched bridge of rainbow the
Lord might have descended. Or Christ
might have had his mortality built up on
earth out of the dust of a garden, as was
Adam, in full manhood at the start,
without the Introductory feebleness OF
infancy. No, mol Childhood was to be
honored by that advent. He must have
q c;lild's light limbs and child S dimpled
hand, and child's beaming eye, and d
child's flaxen hair, and babyhood was to
be honored for all time to come, and a
cradle was to mean more than grave.
Mighty God! May the reflection OF
that one child's face be seen in all infan-
tile places. Enough have all those faith
ers and mothers ON hand if they have {.
child in the house. A throne, crown,
a scepter, kingdom under charge. BE
careful how you strike him across the
head, jarring the brain. What you say
to him will be centennial and millennial,
and 100 years and 1000 years will not
stop the echo and re-echo. Do not say
sit is only child;" rather say sit is only
an immortal" 1t is only masterpiece of
Jehovah. 1t is only a being that shall out-
live sun and moon and star, and ages quad
rillennial. God has infinite resources, and
can give presents of great value, but
when he wants to give the richest posi-
BILE gift to a household he looks around
all the world and all the universe and
then gives child. The greatest present
that God ever gave our world he gave
about 1887 years ago, and he gave it on
Christmas night, and it was of such
value that heaven adjourned for recess
and came down and broke through the
clouds to look at it. Yea, in all ages
God has honored childhood. He makes
almost every picture failure unless
there be child either playing on she
floor, or looking through the window or
seated on the lap gazing into the face of
its~snother. 1t was child in Naaman' s
Kitchen that told the great Syrian war
srior where he might go and get cured
Of the leprosy, which at his seventh
plunge in the Jordan, was left al
the bottom of the river. It was to the
cradle of leaves in which child was
laid, rocked by the Nile, that God called
the attention of history. 1t was a sick
child that evoked Christ's curative sym.
pathies. 1t was child that Christ sal
in the midst of the squabbling disciples
to teach the lesson of humility. We are
informed that wolf and leopard and ior
shall be yet so domesticated that 4 little
child shall lead them A child decided
how they could take short cut through
the fields, when, if the old road had
been followed, the Prussian genera
would have come up too late tx
save the destinies of Europe. Il
was a child that decided Gettysburg
he having overheard two Confederate
generals in conversation in which they
decided to march for Gettysburg instead O
Harrisburg, and this, reported to Gov
ernor Curtin, the Federal forces started t.
meet their opponents at Gettysburg. Ant
the child of to-day is to decide all tht
great battles, make all the laws, settle al
the destinies and usher in the world
salvation or destruction. Men, women
nations, all earth and all heaven, behol(
the child! Is there any velvet SO soft as
child cheek? Is there any sky so blue a
child's eye? Is there any music s
sweet as the child's voice? is there an.
plume so wavy as child's hair2
| Notice also that in this Bible nigh
scene God honored science. Who are th
three wise men kneeling before the divin
i.fant? Not Doors, not ignoramuses. bu
Caspar, Belthasar and Melchior, men VIII
knew all that was to be known. The
We're the Isaac Newtons and Herschei
and Faradays of their time. Thei
alchemy was the forerunner of our SUI
lime chemistry, their astrology th
mother of our magnificent astronomy
They had studied stars, studied metals
studied physiology, studied everything
| And when ! see these scientists bowin
before the beautiful babe I see Il,
.,ro,.ba,x- of fba firoa xxybaf, oil tho faif